Honinbo

Honinbo is the third-most prestigious (as it has the third largest prize money) tournament title in the Japanese professional GO world, with a winners prize of 32 million Yen. Sponsored by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, this title must be won in a best-out-of-seven match against the current title holder, after emerging as best player in the preceding Honinbo-league. Even membership in this eight-member league open to members of the Nihon Kiin and Kansai Kiin, is an achievement in itself, with only four openings due to demotions each year/round, which are filled (how else) by a preliminary elimination tournament. The final matches' games are two-day events with an 8-hour time limit on each side.

Female Go professionals compete in the women's honinbo legue, which is organized parallel to the male system, with a title holder waiting for the winner of the preceeding league tournament.

Historically, the Honinbo title is the oldest and most prestigious Go title in Japan. The buddhist monk Nikkai, who became know as Honinbo Sansa, took up the name of the pavillion Hon'inbo in the Jakkoji temple in Kyoto, in which he had lived, when he was given a stipend by the Shogun. The Shogun gave Sansa the name Meijin (literally "famous person"), meaning the best player in Japan, considered virtually unbeatable.

Honinbo Sansa founded the Honinbo school in 1612, making it the most prestigious and successful of the four traditionally schools of Go in the Edo period. The successive heads of the school took the title and name of Honinbo until the last hereditary holder, Honinbo Shusai, surrendered it to the Nihon Kiin to turn it into the tournament title described above. Incidentally, Honinbo Shusai's last game of professional Go was chronicled by Yasunari Kawabata in his famous book The Master of Go (Meijin).

In the modern tournament title, a vestige of these traditions is retained in the custom of a new Honinbo taking a new name upon his accession (see below).However, this tradition is only honored by Japanese title holders.